The prime minister is considering whether to dash to Europe to attend a global leaders’ summit in an attempt to secure a meeting with Donald Trump.
Having arrived back in Sydney on Thursday after attending the G7 summit in Canada, Anthony Albanese is weighing up whether to travel to The Hague for next week’s NATO summit, as tensions between Iran and Israel threaten to escalate into a larger war.
The summit would provide Mr Albanese a potential opportunity for a face-to-face conversation with Mr Trump, whose last-minute, early departure dashed hopes of a meeting at the G7.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong said all options were being evaluated.
“The prime minister has said before he left Canada that he was considering whether he should attend NATO. Obviously, we will weigh that up,” she told ABC Radio on Thursday.
“This is a very unstable time in the world … but we have a war in Europe and a war in the Middle East and we really need to work with other countries to do all we can to protect peace, security and stability.”
Defence Minister Richard Marles was slated to represent Australia at the summit and said a decision on who would attend NATO would be made soon.
“Whatever happens in terms of what decision is made, Australia will be represented at NATO,” he told ABC News.
“It’s a really important forum which has become more important, I think, in terms of Australia’s national interest in the last few years than we’ve perhaps seen it in the past.”
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Mr Albanese’s main goal should not be a one-on-one with Mr Trump.
She said uncertainty in the wake of the US president’s policy positions demonstrated Australia did not need to pursue closer ties with the US.
“I don’t think chasing Donald Trump from one side of the globe to the other, frankly, is becoming of the prime minister,” she told Sky News.
“I don’t think it’s in necessarily Australia’s best interests. It risks humiliation.
“All you need to do is look at what’s going on in the Middle East right now and Trump’s attitude to that.
“Australia needs to be doing everything we can to stay away from it.”
Mr Albanese would be expected to advocate for Australia’s nuclear submarine deal with the US and UK at his meeting with Mr Trump and for ending tariffs imposed by America on exports.
Australia’s exports to the US continue to be hit with a baseline 10 per cent tariff, with steel and aluminium products incurring a 50 per cent levy.
While Mr Albanese was unable to meet with Mr Trump at the G7, he held talks with the president’s economic team, including US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Opposition trade spokesman Kevin Hogan said it was in Australia’s economic and national security interests for Mr Albanese to sit down with Mr Trump.
“Albanese should have had a meeting with Trump a long time ago,” he told Sky News.
“He hasn’t made it a priority. It’s now embarrassing, the fact that he hasn’t been able to secure one.”
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